I've played the game through twice now, on veteran and nitemare, with the
HUD and autoreload turned off for more realism and immersion, and have some
comments.

The first is the importance of headshots.  A single closerange shotgun
headshot will kill any of the smaller enemies (two will kill an archvile),
and this became my primary attack technique:  rush a spawn location and get
in a headshot before the enemy is settled.  #2:  *always* aim for the head,
the loading delay of having to shoot twice can allow an enemy to strike
back, where he wouldn't with a headshot, and allows you to move to the next
enemy in a group immediately.  BTW in FarCry headshots are even more
important than in Doom3, they give something like 4x damage over an average
body shot.

Also, successfully getting headshots with the aiming reticle turned off is
more difficult, and more satisfying. Sometimes you get a little reward too
in that the enemy has a special reaction to a headshot (like the mancubus
and I think the hellknight as well).

Now here are some weapon comments.  I suggest everyone get the Reznor
soundpack and the weapon projectile glow mod, they make the 3 most-used guns
sound *much* more satisfying, and the plasma gun's coolness factor goes up a
notch with the glow mod.  Make sure decals, muzzleflash are turned on as
well, as with the reticle turned off the decals show where you are hitting
the monster and allow aim adjustment.

Chainsaw:
The problem with this weapon is having to stay in close quarters to an enemy
for an extended period, almost guaranteeing a response.  A good way to use
it is to retreat around the corner of a narrow passage and stick it out
around the edge.  This doesn't always work, as they can often circle around
the corner without hitting the blade, but in very narrow passages it's
unbeatable.

Pistol:
great weapon, very accurate, but the low firing rate and limited clip size
make it problematical, especially with the reticle off, since adjusting your
aim after an initial miss means wasted ammo.  My favorite for sniping
spiders.

Shotgun:
As others have said, the best all-around weapon in the game, especially
given the close-quarter nature of most battles.  Since the spread is *so*
wide, it's doubly important to both rush opponents and aim for the head for
maximum damage.

Machinegun:
A fantastic mid/long-range weapon, and the rapid firing rate and large clip
size make 'walking' the gun onto the target much easier than with the
pistol.  My favorite method of using this weapon is not in long bursts but
1-4 shot taps.  Reznor's soundpack makes this a very satisfying weapon to
fire.  I would also like to see a 'tracer bullet' mod made for this weapon,
that fires a tracer bullet for every 4 or 5 regular bullets.

Chaingun:
Lousy for long-range, best at mid-range.

Plasmagun:
An important feature of this gun is the 'tracer bullet' nature of the
projectiles, which allow you to 'walk' the gun onto the target more easily
than any of the other weapons, a huge advantage when playing without the HUD
turned on, and making it a very effective longrange weapon against
stationary targets;  for moving targets the instant-hit machinegun or
chaingun are better.

Grenades:
I used these *alot* during the game.  The bouncing physics needs tweaking,
but grenades can't be beat for taking out a crowd of spiders, and the slight
detonation delay gives time to switch to another weapon.

RocketLauncher:
An extremely disappointing weapon IMHO.  Has all the disadvantages of the
pistol, but the worst part is the firing sound.  Is there any weapon sound
more wimpy and disappointing than the Doom3 rocketlauncher?  I don't think
so!

Soulcube:
A great weapon, that introduces additional strategy into the game, a Much
Needed Addition.  No alt-fire modes for any of the weapons is a very
disappointing thing to me, as it reduces to zero the player's options and
therefore the replayability and interest in the game are accordingly reduced
as well.

rms